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Wildlife rangers kill mama bear that swiped at Boulder family's dog

Sow's 2 cubs to be relocated to Granby area

By Mitchell Byars, Camera Staff Writer

Posted:
10/01/2013 11:46:50 AM MDT

Updated:
10/01/2013 04:46:03 PM MDT

A bear cub sits in a tree on University Hill in Boulder on on Sept. 3. The cub is one of two that now will be relocated to the Granby area after wildlife officials put down the cubs' mother Monday night. (Paul Aiken / Camera)

State wildlife rangers killed an ear-tagged bear that had been seen numerous times over the summer in the Chautauqua neighborhood with her two cubs and, officials said, had swiped at a dog earlier this month.

The sow was put down in the yard of a house at Cascade Avenue and 14th Street in Boulder on Monday night, according to Jennifer Churchill, a spokeswoman for Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

On Sept. 18, the bear swiped at a family's dog at that residence but climbed too high in a tree for rangers to safely reach it.

The adult female was tagged in October 2011, according to wildlife officials, and had been spotted several other times in neighborhoods, including University Hill, since then. In one instance, rangers had to watch them in a tree for a day to make sure they didn't come out.

"We've definitely seen her around, and we've all been struggling to decide what was going to work with her," Churchill said. "We kept hoping that she would move out of town, and we kept trying to facilitate that. But this bear certainly seemed to just be living in the neighborhood."

Churchill said it appeared the sow and her cubs were bedding in that particular yard. Due to the safety issue the bear presented, wildlife officials said they decided to kill the bear.

"The fact that she seemed to be bedding there, that's when that bear is going to get really territorial," she said. "When we start seeing that, we're really setting them up for failure."

The two cubs were old enough and big enough that officials are going to try to relocate them north of Granby. While rangers are typically allowed only to relocate bears within their own region, Churchill said an exemption was made for the two cubs.

"They are very fat little cubs," she said. "They are healthy at this point, about 40 pounds, which is a really nice weight for cubs."

She said cubs are less likely to try to return after being relocated, which gives officials hope the cubs might make it on their own.

"It's going to take some doing on their part, and they have to learn stuff on their own, which is not the best-case scenario," she said. "But we're trying to give them a chance."

Churchill said the bear and her cubs chose to live in the neighborhood because of the availability of trash as an easy food source, which ultimately led to the sow's death. It is the fourth bear rangers have put down in Boulder this season.

"To reiterate what we've been saying for years, a fed bear is a dead bear," she said. "We take no joy in putting down animals lured to neighborhoods by available trash."

Robin Morgan lives behind the house where the bear was put down and said she and her cubs were well known in the neighborhood. She said they all knew the owner of the house was considering calling rangers about the bear but were hoping he wouldn't, to spare the animal.

"Nobody wanted him to do it," she said. "All the people I ever spoke with were for the bear. Everybody is very sad."

She said the yard where the bears were found didn't have trash out, but it did have a large tree and a pool that seemed to draw the bears. She said overall she feels the neighborhood doesn't have a trash problem but is simply closer to bear territory than other parts of Boulder.

"We don't have a problem with trash," Morgan said. "They're just looking for food like all the other animals."

Rana Gheissari lives in the 1400 block of Columbine Avenue, about a block from where the bear was killed.

"I don't know if we have any more of a problem here than any other part of town," she said. Gheissari said when she moved into the neighborhood she didn't know much about bears until one got into her trash.

"I learned the hard way, but since then I've been pretty careful," she said.

She said she thinks the city could provide more instruction to people moving into areas near bear habitat and that bear-proof trash cans should be required.

"I think that it's something that I wouldn't have minded a little bit more instruction on," she said. "And I wouldn't mind paying a bit more for trash bins that lock."

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